CBS‘ new drama series Madam Secretary, in which Tea Leoni plays the Secretary of State, came about because of Hillary Clinton and Benghazi, exec producer Lori McCreary told TV critics today at TCA Summer TV Press Tour 2014.

McCreary said she and Morgan Freeman had lunch with CBS Entertainment chairman Nina Tassler about producing a scripted series for the network, after which, McCreary says, they set about “trying to come up with a great character…And then, guess what happened — the Benghazi hearings,” McCreary said. They went back to Tassler with the idea of a series about what it’s like to be the female Secretary of State, “and how it translates overseas when rights for women are not what they are here,” she said. Tassler introduced them to Joan Of Arcadia creator Barbara Hall, who “took that kernel of an idea” and ran with it.

In Madam Secretary,Tea Leoni plays Elizabeth McCord, a former CIA analyst who becomes the shrewd, determined, newly appointed Secretary of State, driving international diplomacy, battling office politics, and circumventing protocol as she negotiates global and domestic issues both at the White House and at home. This is not to be confused with NBC’s new State Of Affairs, in which Katherine Heigl plays a tough CIA analyst, who presents the U.S. President’s daily briefing on security issues facing the country, or ABC’s returning Scandal, in which Kerry Washington plays the White House’s favorite tough-as-nails crisis manager/creator.

Recent Comments

Aaah, just in time for Clinton's campaign. The Democrat media is stepping up, or bending over, for...

Anonymous

12 months

The Brains of the operation ?? the turn over is so high, no one wants to work...

Could_you_be_a_little_more_transparent?

1 year

Does all the money being spent on this revisionist history in an attempt to make Hillary look...

One critic wondered, given the likelihood Clinton will run for president again, why the series isn’t called Madam President. Exec producer Freeman said no such idea came across his desk. “But then, there’s Season 4,” Leoni joked/hinted. Freeman dodged the saw-it-coming-from-a-mile-off question as to whether he would show up in the series playing a former or future POTUS.

Asked if she had met with any of the three recent female Secretaries of State as she prepped the series, Hall mentioned former Secretary of State Madeline Albright, who was introduced to her by Tim Daly, who plays Leoni’s religion-professor husband on the series. Daly who is well-connected in Washington as president of The Creative Coalition — the nonprofit advocacy group formed of members of the entertainment industry — called Albright “my White House Correspondents Dinner girlfriend. She became very close and she gives the best [worldwide] restaurant recommendations of anyone I’ve ever known,” Daly added. He hinted his role on the show will grow in upcoming episodes, saying coyly, “You may have noticed religion has played a significant role in the …violent conflicts around the world.”

“She’s very eager to weigh in and help us; she’s very excited about the show,” Hall said of her meeting with Albright. Nobody pressed Hall as to whether she’d met with Clinton for the show, which Hall said is set about five years in the future — so if she were to write an episode about a Benghazi-ish situation, for instances, there would be references to Benzhazi as being a previous attack. Hall wanted the Clinton…er, McCord character have a “successful and realistic” marriage — if not a “perfect” one, because the TV trope of a woman in a strong position of leadership whose life is broken everywhere else is so over — or words to that effect. “We as women have to overcome that image,” Hall urged.

One critic called the pilot episode “prescient” because it involves a terrorist group that uses Facebook. Hall said she used the story of American kids kidnapped in Syria because it would be “recognizable to people who are not necessarily schooled in international politics.”

Signing Leoni to the series was considered quite a “get.” The actress, who has stayed away from network television since 1998 when her NBC sitcom The Naked Truth ended its run, had been approached for pilots ever since, but her only TV gig in the past 15 years was the 2011 HBO pilot Spring/Fall. Asked about her decision to return to series TV with this series, Leoni said the decision was as simple as her kids turning 12 and 15 and the younger telling her, “I’m getting kinda sick of you….So, I’m back.”

7 Comments

yeah • on Jul 17, 2014 11:43 am

LMC as exec producer, coming up with idea, etc… what a joke. she’s a joke. the laughing stock of hollywood. she needs to stop pretending that she came up with anything, as we all know who the brains of the operation is at Revelations.

Anonymous • on Jul 17, 2014 11:43 am

The Brains of the operation ?? the turn over is so high, no one wants to work with that woman. Who would stay?? Only martyrs Let’s hope this credit boosts her self esteem and she will feel like she made it all the way from where ever she came from

Stick to flix • on Jul 17, 2014 11:43 am

McCrearyand Morgan Freeman should be kissing Barbara Hall’s feet… you took her nothing and she gave you something.

Producers like this are the reason TV is so upside down. But I guess get it while you can, right?

Francis Bacon • on Jul 17, 2014 11:43 am

All the promos show she’s a smart woman with balls. Like this is a show you make your daughter watch. Is Tea Leoni’s gift for comedy going to be wasted?

NYC guy • on Jul 17, 2014 11:43 am

I recently watched DEEP IMPACT on cable, wondering if my original feelings about it still held. Sure enough, I was reminded (1) what a total BORE-FEST it was compared to ARMAGEDDON, which at least had the good common sense to include action and a few fun characters. And (2) what a completely crappy and off-putting actress Leoni is.

I’ve never understood the praise for her. Earlier in her career, Hollywood tried to ram her down the public’s throat as the “next big thing” and person “you’re all just gonna love!” — at which point the public said “No thanks.” Probably because no matter what role she’s in, Leoni always comes off as overly whiny, overly sarcastic, overly snitty and hence overly unlikeable. In fact, cable was just running JURASSIC PARK 3, and re-watching that that only confirmed how unlikeable she is yet again.

But let’s face it — no one at CBS cares since the only reason they even approved this groan-inducing thing is to help Hillary, by using a prime time show to subliminally plant the idea that despite being the useless waste of space she was as Secretary of State, instead Cankles had SO many problems to deal with and accomplished SO much in office (one more glass ceiling broken!) — when, in fact, no one came a single freaking thing that Pant Suit Hill Hill ACTUALLY accomplished of note while in office.

Then again: WHAT DIFFERENCE DOES IT MAKE?!?!?

Could_you_be_a_little_more_transparent? • on Jul 17, 2014 11:43 am

Does all the money being spent on this revisionist history in an attempt to make Hillary look other than the complete incompetent she is have to be reported by Mrs. Clinton as a campaign contribution?

Jakesprogress • on Jul 17, 2014 11:43 am

Aaah, just in time for Clinton’s campaign. The Democrat media is stepping up, or bending over, for Hillary.

Re Benghazi: Hope they include the bit where she stands in front of the coffins of the 4 dead Americans and tells the families that she’ll get that video maker who caused it.